Lindsay Horton, co-owner of Georgia Girl Art Paint Parties, begins the class with painting basics before they continue on to their actual painting.

Fourteen members of Daniel Baptist Church in Richmond Hill recently spent a rainy Saturday afternoon at a tea and canvas party hosted by Georgia Girl Art Paint Parties.Owners Lindsay Horton and Mimi Ryan of Fleming led the group of women in painting beach-themed canvases with flip-flops on it, each with different designs chosen by the painter herself.Daniel Baptist Church provided the group with snacks and varieties of tea, while Horton and Ryan provided the canvases as well as several kinds of paint and paintbrushes. Cindy Burbage, a resident of Richmond Hill and member of Daniel Baptist Church, organized the event after she saw the business on Facebook. “I think that we had a good turnout, and everyone had a really good time,” Burbage said. “I think it’s a cool idea and a great way to spend your afternoon.”Paint parties, specifically the combination of wining and painting, have become widely popular throughout the nation, inviting people to socialize, drink and learn how to paint. Horton and Ryan have been selling art through Georgia Girl Art for quite some time, but just last March, they started Georgia Girl Art Paint Parties because of its growing success in other areas and their love for painting. Since then, they have hosted about 14 paint parties for businesses such as Holton’s Seafood, Santello’s and Pizza Peddler; they also have hosted private events for Liberty and Bryan county residents and churches.Their big public event is held at 4 p.m. on the third Sunday of every month at Captain Joe’s Seafood. The owners choose a different painting each month for customers to re-create. People of all ages are welcome to attend the event, which costs $25 per person. However, a regular party is $35 per person because the canvases are bigger, and it takes about three hours to complete the painting. “It doesn’t seem like it takes three hours. It feels like it’s quick because you’re just always going and talking,” Horton said. “It’s the most fun job I’ve ever had.”The owners said they want the business to grow, but they don’t want it to become a big company. In fact, they have structured their business around giving back to the community.When they do paint parties at a church, they give 10 percent of their profits back to the church.Right after the Daniel Baptist Church party ended, for example, the owners gave the church $41.59 from their earnings. They also have even bigger plans to give back with their Paint it Forward project, in which they’ll allow people at the parties to donate back their paintings so the owners can give them to children’s hospitals and nursing homes. The owners have collected 10 paintings from the paint parties so far, but they want to reach 25 before they donate them. They hope to make their first donation by December, which they said is a good time to do so considering the holidays. “We try to give back as much as we can with our 10 percent back to the church or other discounts. We don’t do it necessarily for the money. We do it because we like to paint. We’re not trying to be some global company. We just like what we do. We want to share it with whoever wants it,” Ryan said. “If we have so many paintings, there’s no point in them just sitting in our house. Why not give them to somebody who could appreciate them?”